In Llanelli you’ll often hear them say “West is Best”. Whilst everyone in Wales will have a view on that from a rugby perspective the recently constructed Theatr y Ffwrnes, located in the centre of Llanelli, offers one of the best facilities of its kind in Wales and is the envy of theatre-goers across the whole of the UK. Theatr y Ffwrnes is also one of Constructing Excellence in Wales’ Demonstration Projects highlighting a range of best practices that the broader industry can learn from.

The theatre was delivered via Carmarthenshire County Council’s construction frameworks which, through a two-stage procurement process, enabled an integrated team to be assembled from a very early stage in the project. The team comprised of the local authority, client, local builder T Richard Jones (Betws) Ltd and architects Lawray Ltd who, having worked with the client to develop the concept, were novated to the contractor to complete the project on a design and build basis. Given the challenges presented by the project, not least funding and programming constraints, it is clear that a traditional approach would not have delivered such successful outcomes.

The theatre is the first facility of its kind in Wales to be fully DDA compliant and has been delivered to BREEAM Excellent standards. The refurbishment of two adjacent listed chapel buildings and their subsequent incorporation into the overall facility has significantly enhanced the regenerative qualities of the project.

For TRJ, as a local contractor, the project was significant both in terms of its scale but also for the employment, training and skills opportunities it offered for their direct and indirect employees – typically labelled as community benefits. Further details on this aspect of the project will be picked up when the Demonstration Project Case Study is published in the next few weeks.

Over 90% of the waste generated on the site was diverted from landfill which was largely facilitated by TRJ’s own waste management facilities. The contractor’s steel fabrication facilities also came in handy to deliver the superstructure for the new theatre!

If anyone needs convincing of the success of this project they need do no more than speak to the manager of the theatre, Carwyn Matera-Rogers, who was a key member of the project team. Given the collaborative approach enabled by the Carmarthenshire framework and the qualities of the integrated team Carwyn was able to retain a clear focus on the quality aspects of the project which sets it apart from so many other theatres and, ultimately, makes it a facility which attracts performers and technicians from across the UK.

Quote from Carwyn Matera-Rogers - Theatr Manager

" I would imagine that few theatre managers would turn down the opportunity to be centrally involved from initial  concept stage through to the completion and opening of a new state of the art  theatre .Despite being known for not ducking a challenge for me the prospect was both exciting and at the same time daunting . However the reality turned out to be very different and as the lead representative of the end-users I strongly believe the success of the Ffwrnes project resulted from the perfect blend of strong political and professional leadership coupled with a very talented and well managed Project Management Team . To my knowledge no other member of the PMT,other than the Theatre Designer  had been part of a new build theatre project although it has to be said that the Architects had a great deal of experience in working within the theatre sector . From the outset I saw my role very clearly as the one who had to drive and maintain the creative relationship between Theatre Designer , Architects and above all the Project Manager . If I could achieve that then I beleived everything else would fall into place ."

"Did we succeed ? Absolutely ! Carmarthenshire and Wales should be proud of what has been achieved. I know I am !! "

If you get a chance to visit Theatr y Ffwrnes take it. It’s a wonderful facility delivered by a truly collaborative team. Until then follow this link to a film of the project to learn more about it and look out for the case study which we’ll be publishing before Christmas and launching via our website.